Friday, April 11, 2014

This much we know: The Rangers have locked themselves into second place in the Metropolitan Division courtesy of a 2-1 win over the hapless Sabres that barely deserves to be rehashed. The Rangers will have home-ice advantage for at least the first round. Game 1 will almost certainly be next Thursday, April 17, since the Knicks will occupy the building on Wednesday.

Who the Rangers will play in the first round has yet to be determined: It will either be the Flyers or the Blue Jackets (and, speaking of rehashing, here’s my column from Tuesday’s Record on what’s appealing about facing either of those teams. Essentially, the Rangers are guaranteed a first-round series brimming with subplots.

One thought looking ahead: one difference between the Flyers and Blue Jackets is that while both teams try and do play a very physical game, the Blue Jackets are much smarter about it. So where the Rangers might be able to count on a lot of power plays against the Flyers, that might not necessarily be the case against the Blue Jackets.

So the Rangers will now close out the regular season at Montreal in a game that means absolutely zero in the standings. Coach Alain Vigneault said after tonight’s victory he had decided on a goalie but since he hadn’t told either Henrik Lundqvist or Cam Talbot, he was not going to make the information public yet. And since the Rangers do not practice on Friday, just travel, that will be a decision left unrevealed until Saturday morning.

Except it only seems logical that Lundqvist will be given the night off, giving him a full week’s rest for the playoffs, in which he’s expected to start every game. Besides, Cam Talbot won up in Montreal earlier this season and that’s something Lundqvist has had difficulty doing.

Speaking of not playing, there now seems to be zero reason to risk anything to Ryan McDonagh (left shoulder/day to day) by playing him. Most likely, he won’t return to the Rangers’ lineup until Game 1 of the playoffs. In that respect, tonight’s two points were crucial in allowing the Rangers to clinch second place. That was finalized when the Flyers lost 4-2 to the Lightning in Tampa Bay.

“The last month, month and a half, we have played well and pretty consistent,” defenseman Marc Staal said. “Obviously, we go into every game expecting to win and we have the confidence to do that. Going into our last game, hopefully, we carry that momentum through the playoffs. You want to finish as high in the standings as possible. We knew that if we lose this one, potentially, we could have slipped into a wild card spot if we don’t win our next one. It was a big two points for us against a team that doesn’t have a lot to play for.”

About

ANDREW GROSS covers the New York Rangers for The Record and Herald News, having joined the North Jersey Media Group in November 2007. Gross also covered the Rangers and New York Jets, as well as St. John’s basketball and Army football, for Gannett Newspapers and The Journal News (N.Y.). He graduated from Syracuse University in 1989 with a degree in newspaper journalism.